Tales from Scott & Sarah's first European motorhome adventure…

Auf wiedersehen..

With a few hints and tips from our friend Klaus, we left Freiburg and headed to two lakes he had suggested we visit. The first in Titisee 👀 and the other at Schluchsee. It had been raining all night and we hoped that it would eventually stop. This weather isnt typical for this time of year but Germany had also had the three months of scorching sun like the UK, all a bit back to front.

We drove through some picture postcard looking villages and made our way up the long and very winding mountain passes to Titisee. Having been cycling in Majorca on a couple of occasions, I’ve seen a lot of steep and winding roads before. However, these roads definately top trumped anything I’ve ever seen.

The picture on the sat nav was ridiculous, literally double backing on ourselves at points. The river running down the middle of the road made for dangerous driving conditions.

We made it up to the train station in Titisee where we had a free 30 minute stop before we had to pay a couple of euro. As we had landed at lunchtime we quickly turned the gas on (as to not get drenched) and hoped that the monsoon would pass whilst we ate. No such luck, it continued to bucket it down all afternoon. Such a shame as it appeared to be such a great looking town. It was the same situation when we arrived at the next lake in Schluchsee.

After reviewing the European weather forecast, we could see a large band of wet weather was forecast for southern Germany, and the alps for the next 4 days, with snow potentially forecast for the alps, in bloody August! With no signs of improvement any time soon. It’s times like this that decisions have to be made. We had planned to spend a week by lake Konstanz. However, there would be no point parked up by the side of it if the weather was so bad. We made our minds up, we were back off to France!! Like any trip, the weather plays such a big part in what we do. Even in a motorhome where we can have a good sleep without getting wet, there is no fun walking around in the rain and then having to dry clothes in such a small space. We decided to chase the sun. That’s the beauty of a motorhome, If the weather or location isn’t good, we move on.

We could see from the forecast that the weather front started in Switzerland, so we had to head west towards Dijon. Three and a bit hours later we arrived at our selected site to find it was out of use for some kind of event. Bugger. The next one we had seen was another hour away, so we set off, arriving in Gray at 9pm ish. Luckily, there were a few spots left and we got ourselves settled in. At €5 for the night with all motorhome facilities, including electricity, it was cheap. The aire had been renovated in 2016 so it was also lovely.

Next morning we woke and I still wasn’t well. Having felt rough for a week we had to do something. We decided to walk in to town to see what our options were. We nipped in to the market on the way through and saw what all the locals got up to on a Saturday morning. It had a really nice atmosphere and seemed more of a social gathering with tables lined up and the old uns sat drinking wine! Although, the best looking stall was selling rotisserie chicken and roast potatoes. The fat from the chicken was falling on to the spuds and we could only imagine how good they tasted.

We spotted the tourist information office and wandered across to have a chat. Luckily, the girl on reception spoke brilliant English. I explained I wasn’t feeling well and she jumped on the phone to speak to a local surgery. This was at 11.05am. I was in the doctors being seen by Dr Jean Marie at 11.30am!!! Incredible.. It was going to cost €25, which I thought was reasonable. The girl on reception spoke good English and she had prepped the doc with my symptoms. I never thought I’d ever use the phrase Je m’appelle Scott in real life, but this seemed the perfect situation. Sarah said afterwards she had heard me from the waiting area and had to laugh!! After a bit of charades, questions and an examination, I was prescribed with two lots of tablets which I was to collect from the pharmacy next door. My prescription cost €4.50 (we learned one of them was paracetamol so didn’t take those) Back home, I would have had to wait 3 weeks for a doctors appointment! And, it was Saturday. Unbelievable.

So, we shall see how we go. Early signs are positive, but I really need to get myself ship shape again. If my symptoms continue, we might be heading back to blighty. There’s no point being over here and not feeling well as we’re unable to really do anything. It’s not fair on Sarah and I’m not particularly enjoying feeling rubbish.

Wether I could get in to the doctors when I got back home is another story!